National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Trustees
The National Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees that provides the organization with counsel, guidance, and leadership.
Phoebe Tudor
Chair; Elected 2015, 2018, 2021, 2024-2026
(Houston, TX) serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Mrs. Tudor is a preservationist and community volunteer, primarily in the areas of the arts, quality of life, and education. She served for seven years on the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission, three of those as Chairman. She is the founder and Chairman of the Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners, responsible for raising funds and overseeing the restoration and addition to the city’s oldest library. Mrs. Tudor was the Centennial Chairman for Hermann Park, which raised money for a new Centennial Garden and Pavilion. Mrs. Tudor is chair and co-founder of the Astrodome Conservancy, working to establish a public-private partnership to help repurpose Houston’s Astrodome.
Mrs. Tudor has a B.A in Art History from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University. She was appointed the Mayor’s Preservationist of the Year in 2013 and received the President’s Award from Preservation Houston in 2014. She serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Rice University School of Architecture. She serves on the boards of the Nantucket Historical Association, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Houston Parks Board, Preservation Houston, The Hermann Park Conservancy, the Bond Oversight Committee for the Houston Independent School District, and is President of the Board of the Houston Ballet. Mrs. Tudor and her husband, Bobby, were named Philanthropists of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2009. They have three children.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Kirkland Cahill
Chair-Elect and Vice Chair; Elected 2020, 2023-2026
(Charleston, SC) is an author, civic volunteer, and preservationist. Ms. Cahill began her career at the New York Shakespeare Festival, where she co-authored Shakespeare Alive! with Joseph Papp and served as an assistant director on Shakespeare productions. Ms. Cahill subsequently held executive positions at the New York Public Library, including director of public affairs. Ms. Cahill has been a regular writer for religious journals, including Commonweal and America, and recently contributed to a volume on the phenomenon of religious disaffiliation (Empty Churches, forthcoming from Oxford University Press).
In 2010, Ms. Cahill earned a master’s degree in Religion (Hebrew Bible) from the Yale Divinity School. Ms. Cahill also holds degrees in Classics from Harvard and in English Literature from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Ms. Cahill has been a Trustee of the Greenwich (CT) public library, the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, St. Andrew’s School (DE), and Ashley Hall. After returning to Charleston, her hometown, in 2010, she joined the board of the Preservation Society of Charleston and has served as its chairman since 2015.
William J. Bates, FAIA, NOMA
Elected 2020; 2023-2026
(Pittsburgh, PA) is a Pennsylvania Architect with global corporate real estate and property management experience. Mr. Bates has served as a small firm partner in architectural practice, Fortune One-hundred corporate manager, a bank vice president, a high tech startup executive, and restaurant chain executive. Mr. Bates is passionate about diversity, the built and natural environment. While retired from corporate practice he currently teaches architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.
Mr. Bates’ volunteer leadership history includes roles as former board chair of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s for profit Landmarks Development Board, a founding member of the Allegheny County Parks Foundation and former Vice President of the Allegheny Land Trust. Mr. Bates has been an active member of the American Institute of Architects for the past 30 years and served as the organization’s national 2019 President. The Governor of Pennsylvania has recently appointed him to the State Architects Licensure Board.
Christina Lee Brown
Executive Committee Member; Appointed 2017, Elected 2017, 2020, 2023-2026
(Louisville, KY) founded the Center for Interfaith Relations and went onto launch the first U.S. Festival of Faiths in Louisville, Kentucky. Ms. Brown is a co-founding board member of the Berry Center. The mission of the center is to perpetuate a culture that uses nature as the standard, that accepts no permanent damage to the environment and that takes into consideration human health in local communities.
Ms. Brown is also the founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Healthy Air, Water and Soil. Ms. Brown is an International Trustee of Religions for Peace and serves on the Boards of the Sustainable Food Trust and the Louisville Orchestra.
Jay C. Clemens
Executive Committee Member; Appointed 2016, Elected 2016, 2019, 2022-2025
(Hillsborough, CA) retired as senior vice president of legal and general counsel at Lenovo Group Limited based in San Francisco. Prior to joining Lenovo, he was instrumental in building the in-house legal function at eBay, where he oversaw all commercial, compliance, and product issues for the eBay marketplaces business for 12 years.
Prior to eBay, Jay managed international legal affairs at VeriFone, Inc., before and after its acquisition by the Hewlett-Packard Corporation. He joined VeriFone after working as an associate at Baker & McKenzie, an international law firm, and serving as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of International Trade. He served as a Non-Executive Director of eBay Auction Co., Ltd. (formerly, Internet Auction Co., Ltd.). He holds a Juris Doctor from the Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from Dartmouth.
Jay served as the chair of the board of trustees from November 2020–March 2023, and interim president & CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from March 2023–January 2024.
Donna Colson
Elected 2024-2027
(Burlingame, CA) is a two-time Mayor of Burlingame, CA having served in 2019 and 2024. Her work in Burlingame is focused on improving infrastructure, economic development, housing, and climate initiatives. She serves in several strategic regional leadership roles that provide fiscal stewardship and also leads the Board of Directors for Peninsula Clean Energy a $400 mm per year local green energy provider.
Prior to serving on the Burlingame City Council Donna spent twenty-five years working in global institutional investment management and consulting. She is the founder of a youth sports facility that hosted premier soccer and futsal training and competition. Presently, she serves on the Board of Directors for Filoli Estate and Gardens (President 2015) which is a NTHP co-stewardship site and location of the famed Woodside Summit with President’s Biden and Xi. She is a founder of the UC Berkeley Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership, and an Advisory Committee member to the UC Berkeley Haas Business School, also serves ont he board of the San Mateo County Historical Museum and the College of Letters and Science Advisory Board at the University of Wisconsin.
Donna lives in Burlingame, CA with her husband Eric and they have two adult daughters. She attended UC Berkeley earning a BA in Political Economics and an MBA in real estate and finance.
Samuel Dixon
Executive Committee Member; Appointed 2017, Elected 2017, 2020, 2023-2026
(Edenton, NC) is a practicing lawyer with Dixon and Thompson Law, PLLC. Mr. Dixon's practice focuses on capital defense, real estate transactions and historic preservation. A lifelong preservationist, Samuel has been involved with local and national preservation organizations for many years. He has served on the boards of Preservation North Carolina, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, the Fair Trial Initiative, and as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina.
He currently serves on the board of the Edenton Historical Commission, the North Carolina Museum of History Foundation, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and the National Main Street Center. He is a member of the North Carolina Historical Commission and the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee. Samuel and his wife, Gray, chaired the National Trust Council from 2014-2017. Since 1999, Mr. Dixon has been elected to serve on the Edenton Town Council where he serves as the budget Chairman. In 2013, he was awarded the Cannon Cup, North Carolina's highest preservation honor. Mr. Dixon was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1984 with a BA in Political Science and from the Wake Forest School of Law with a JD in 1987.
Damien Dwin
Executive Committee Member; Appointed 2018; Elected 2018, 2021, 2024-2027
(New York, NY and Washington, DC) is a Black American businessman, philanthropist, and credit-impact investor. In November 2020, he founded Lafayette Square to use debt financing to materially impact under-realized housing, employment, and financial market inclusion opportunities. Previous to his current role as CEO of Lafayette Square, Mr. Dwin served as Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Brightwood Capital Advisors from its founding in 2010 to October, 2020.
Mr. Dwin began his finance career as a trader with Goldman Sachs, New York & London, there earning the Michael P. Mortata Award for Innovation. Mr. Dwin then further developed his finance expertise working for Credit Suisse, where he was the Co-Founder and Head of the North American Special Opportunities business until 2010. At Credit Suisse, he also served on the Vice President Selection Committee and led the Fixed Income Division Credit Training Program.
Mr. Dwin is an active thought leader concerned about mass incarceration, unrealized potential of vulnerable communities, racial justice and representation, and the use of credit financing as a force for good. Mr. Dwin has written for Entrepreneur and Inc.com.
A committed philanthropist, Mr. Dwin currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Vera Institute of Justice. Mr. Dwin also serves on non-profit boards including Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Studio Museum in Harlem, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Woodberry Forest School and Boys’ Club of New York.
Mr. Dwin received a B.S./B.A. from Georgetown University where he later served two terms on the Board of Regents.
Tracy Frist
Executive Committee Member; Elected 2020, 2023-2026
(Franklin, TN & New Castle, VA) is an educator, preservationist, conservationist and business person. She cares passionately about literacy, cultural awareness, human-animal relationships, philanthropy for vulnerable populations, historic preservation, and agricultural and conservation needs for farming and nature preservation.
Tracy currently serves on the Board of Trustees for National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Nature Conservancy (Tennessee Chapter), Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, Tennessee, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, and Tennessee Teach Back Initiative. She is a member of America’s Grasslands Leadership Team supported by the Volgenau Foundation’s Volgenau Climate Initiative and a National Jurist for the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize.
She has previously served on the Board of Trustees at Hollins University, Centerstone Tennessee (provides veterans mental health and substance abuse support), and the Stephen A. Cohen Military Family Clinic.
Tracy lives in a historic home in Franklin, Tennessee, with her husband and four dogs.
Tony Gelderman
Elected 2023-2026
(New Orleans, LA) Tony and his wife, Katherine, co-own KCT Real Estate Ventures (KCT), a closely held real estate firm engaged in the acquisition, renovation, and management of company-owned historic properties, primarily in New Orleans. KCT frequently utilizes federal and state historic tax credits as well as development easements to successfully finance challenging historic restoration projects. Tony is also counsel to the nationally recognized New York based securities litigation firm, Bernstein Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann LLP.
Tony’s early professional life has included serving as chief of staff and general counsel in the Louisiana Department of Treasury. In that role, Tony was instrumental in launching the highly successful Louisiana Asset Management Pool, a multi-billion-dollar investment pool serving local government offices across Louisiana. Tony led LAMP as its Secretary/Treasurer many years after its founding.
Tony is a former president of the New Orleans Garden District Association, was the founding President of the Garden District Security District and has served on numerous community boards through the years, including the Preservation Resource Center, the St. Charles Avenue Association, the Louise S. McGehee School, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and the Louisiana Architecture Foundation. He is the immediate past vice-president of the board of the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is a former co-chair and long-time member of the National Trust Council. Tony is currently a member of the WYES board of directors, New Orleans’ public television station.
Alison K. (Kim) Hoagland
Executive Committee Member; Appointed 2022, Elected 2022-2025
(Washington, DC) Alison K. Hoagland is professor emerita at Michigan Technological University, where she taught history and historic preservation for fifteen years. Prior to that, she was the senior historian at the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service, where she worked for fifteen years.
Ms. Hoagland received her BA from Brown University and her MA in American Studies, with a concentration in historic preservation, from George Washington University. She has written five books on various aspects of American vernacular architecture and is currently working on one on Washington’s row houses.
Ms. Hoagland currently serves on the boards of Westover School, a girls’ boarding school in Middlebury, CT, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. She has previously chaired the board of the Delaware Historical Society, chaired the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission in Calumet, Michigan, and served as president of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. She has also served on the boards of the National Council on Public History, the Michigan State Historic Preservation Review Board, and on the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. In the early 1980s, she was an adviser to the National Trust when she was also on the board of the DC Preservation League (originally Don’t Tear It Down!).
Peter Kies
Elected 2023-2026
(Milwaukee, WI) is a Managing Director in Baird’s Global Investment Banking business where he is the Head of Equity Capital Markets and Head of Global Technology & Services Investment Banking. Peter has built and led several investment banking industry teams and has extensive experience in originating and executing mergers, acquisitions and equity transactions across a wide range of industries.
Peter is a member of the Investment Banking Management Committee and Chairman of the Equity Capital Markets Committee. In his 25+ years at Baird, Peter has held several leadership positions, including Chairman of the Investment Banking and firm-wide Recruiting Committees, member of the Investment Committee of the Baird Venture Fund and a Director of the Baird Foundation.
Prior to joining Baird in 1992, Peter was a Director of Investments for The Equitable and on the staff of Governor Tommy Thompson. Peter received his Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a member of the University of Wisconsin Foundation Board of Directors. Peter is a former Trustee of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, and First Stage Children’s Theater.
David Scott Parker, FAIA
Elected 2023-2026
(Southport, CT) is a practicing architect and principal of his own firm with broad experience on cultural institutions, preservation, restoration and adaptive-use renovation projects. Mr. Parker has worked on a number of National Historical Landmarks, including the Greenwich Historical Society, the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT and the U.S Treasury in Washington. He is an active volunteer on the Merritt Parkway Conservancy Board and a member of the Lyndhurst Advisory Council.
David grew up in the midwestern utopian town of New Harmony, Indiana, where he worked from a young age on preservation projects. He subsequently earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he served on the Harvard Design Magazine Practitioners’ Board. His firm has received three Palladio Awards, two Stanford White Awards plus numerous honors from the American Institute of Architects, as well as the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Tony Goldman Award. Additionally, Mr. Parker is well known in the field of American Decorative Arts with a specialty in the Aesthetic Movement.
Jennifer Skyler
Appointed 2021; Elected 2021, 2024-2027
(New York, New York) is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at American Express. In this role, she oversees public affairs and media relations, social media, colleague communications, reputational risk management and corporate social responsibility. She is a member of the Company’s Executive Committee, as well as Chairperson of the American Express Foundation.
At American Express, Ms. Skyler launched the company’s first Environmental, Governance and Social (ESG) Strategy and Framework, which encompasses three core pillars: Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Build Financial Confidence; and Advance Climate Solutions. This strategy was released in the company’s first ESG Report in the fall of 2020.
Additionally, to help small businesses as they recovered from the economic effects of the pandemic, Ms. Skyler and her team launched the Backing Historic Restaurants campaign, a $1 million grant program in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to support historic and culturally significant restaurants navigate the pandemic and shift toward recovery. Ms. Skyler’s Corporate Affairs & Communications function also played a key role in creating the Coalition to Back Black Businesses, a collaboration between American Express, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the nation’s four leading Black Chambers – the National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Business League, Walker’s Legacy and U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. – to award $10 million to support Black-owned small business recovery in the U.S. over the next four years. The program has supported more than 600 businesses to date.
Prior to American Express, Ms. Skyler served as Chief Communications Officer at WeWork, where she built a multi-disciplinary department that included communications, government relations, public affairs, strategic events, brand, and social impact. Before this, she launched and oversaw Facebook's consumer communications and data science teams and was responsible for the press strategy around key products and partnerships that encompassed news, sports, entertainment, and social good. Ms. Skyler also worked at Polyvore, a company acquired by Yahoo, where she was the first public relations hire, leading communications and marketing strategies.
Ms. Skyler began her career in newsrooms, first at CNN, where she started as an executive assistant and rose through the ranks to become a White House producer. After working with Norah O’Donnell at MSNBC, Skyler became an anchor producer at the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. At CBS, she was part of the team that was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won the Alfred I. du Pont Award for political coverage during the 2008 election.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ms. Skyler majored in Communications Studies with a concentration in Japanese. She serves on the University of Michigan’s Tri-State NextGen Leadership Council, is a member of the Institute for Public Relations Board of Directors, is on the National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Trustees, sits on the Board of All in Together, and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society.
A native of Flint, Michigan, Ms. Skyler lives in New York City with her husband, Ed, and their three children.
Robert Joseph Vila
Elected 2020, 2023-2026
(New York, NY & Palm Beach, FL) has spent his career helping people upgrade their homes and improve their lives. He started out with his own design and remodeling business and was hired as the original host of This Old House on the Public Broadcasting System. From there his name became synonymous with home improvement. In hosting Bob Vila’s Home Again and Restore America with Bob Vila, Bob taught millions of people the role that good design, and often sweat equity, have in preserving our architectural treasures. In addition to teaching through television, Bob is the author of 12 books.
Bob has broken new ground on the Internet with a fast-growing website, BobVila.com. The website has Bob’s complete TV library, as well as a rich trove of exclusive original online content. From inspirational galleries to how-to articles, the site covers the entire home improvement journey. Bob also takes his advice into the social realm, with 1.5 Million+ Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and Pinterest followers.
In the last five years, Bob has channeled his passion for renovation into helping with the restoration of Ernest Hemingway’s home and collections at Finca Vigía near Havana, Cuba. Hemingway lived there from 1939 until his death in 1961 and he left it to the Cuban people as a museum. This project has allowed Bob to visit his parents' homeland several times.
Bob also serves on the board of the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York and the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust.
Kelly Williams
Elected 2024-2027
(Palm Beach, FL and Nantucket, MA) is the CEO of The Williams Legacy Foundation. Kelly is a recognized leader in the alternative investment industry having founded the Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG) in 1999. She served as its Managing Director and Group Head until 2014, when she led the sale of the business and remained as its President until June of 2015, and a Senior Advisor from 2015 to 2019.
Prior to the founding of CFIG, Kelly was an Executive Director with Prudential's private equity group and an associate with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
Kelly served as the Chair of the Board of Commissioners of the Smithsonian American Art Museum from 2021-2024, having previously chaired its Nominating Committee, and she is the former Chair of the board of the Nantucket Historical Association. Kelly is Vice Chair of the board of The Norton Museum of Art where she serves on its Executive Committee and chairs its Marketing and Communications Committee. She is the former Vice Chair of the board of the Robert Toigo Foundation, and is the founding board chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network. Additionally, Kelly has served as a Board member for The Greenbrier Companies (GBX), KKR Private Equity Conglomerate, Grasshopper Bank, The National Philanthropic Trust, the NY School of Interior Design, and The Olana Partnership.
Kelly has received many awards throughout her career in the financial services industry and from 2011 through 2014 was named one of The Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker Magazine. She graduated magna cum laude from Union College in 1986 and received her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1989. Kelly is a proud New Yorker, having grown up in the Hudson Valley (Newburgh), where her family has lived for 400 years. She and her husband reside in Palm Beach, Florida.
Ex-Officio Trustees:
Deb Haaland
U.S. Secretary of the Interior
(Washington, DC)
Merrick B. Garland
Attorney General of the United States
(Washington, DC)
Kaywin Feldman
Director, National Gallery of Art
(Washington, DC) is the Director of the National Gallery of Art. Previously, Kaywin led the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) as its Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director and President. She is a past president of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), past chair of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and a frequent speaker on reinventing the museum for the 21st century. She is a champion of digital technology for expanding access to art.
Born in 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, Feldman's fascination with museums began with childhood visits and an early interest in archaeology. She earned her BA in classical archaeology from the University of Michigan and an MA from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London. She also earned an MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, specializing in Dutch and Flemish art, and received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Memphis College of Art in 2008. Before coming to Mia, she was the director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee from 1999 to 2007.
Joel Edward Danies
Representative for Historic Sites Advisory Councils & Co-Stewardship Boards; Elected 2024-2027
(Chevy Chase, MD) was appointed on February 21, 2018, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Gabonese Republic, and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. He retired from the Foreign Service in January 2020. Ambassador Danies currently serves as an Advisory Council Member for the President Woodrow Wilson House.
Joel joined the Foreign Service in 1987 after working for USAir. Among his other diplomatic postings were assignments in Sanaa, Paris, Belize City, Geneva, and Kabul. In Washington he worked in Legislative Affairs, Press and Public Affairs Officer to the President’s Special Representative on Haiti, Colombia Desk Officer, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Global Affairs, Deputy Special Coordinator for Haiti, Chief of Staff in the Bureau of Administration, and Associate Dean at the Foreign Institute’s School of Professional and Area Studies.
Originally born in Haiti, he grew up in New York and in Baltimore, Maryland. He received an MA from the National War College and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. He speaks French, Haitian Creole, and some Arabic.
Danielle Del Sol
Representative for Statewide & Local Partners; Elected 2023-2026
(New Orleans, LA) is the fourth director of the Preservation Resource Center (PRC). Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, the New Orleans local preservation organization has been a close partner of the National Trust since its founding and is viewed by peers as a leading organization in the preservation field. Originally covering real estate issues as a journalist, Del Sol switched careers receiving her master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Tulane University.
Before becoming PRC’s executive director, Del Sol served as deputy editor and then editor of PRC’s magazine and oversaw PRC’s website and social media. We note that Jack Davis, National Trust emeritus Trustee and then-interim PRC director, actively supported Danielle’s promotion to executive director.
At Tulane, Del Sol teaches a course she developed called “Preservation Advocacy.” She serves on the local Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission as well as the board of the National Preservation Partners Network. These roles give Del Sol unique insight and in-depth knowledge of the field. Del Sol has an excellent relationship with National Trust staff and is eager to work together on the upcoming 2024 PastForward conference in New Orleans.
Edward I. Torrez (Ed), RA, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB
Representative of the National Trust Advisors; Elected 2023-2026
(Chicago, IL) is an architect and principal at Arda in Chicago specializing in Historic Preservation/Rehabilitation, Interior Renovation and Urban Design. He has served on the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, the Illinois Historical Sites Advisory Council, and AIA Chicago Board. He also served as Chair of the AIA Chicago Historic Resources Committee and as Chair of the AIA National Diversity Forum. Since 2014, Torrez has served as an Advisor for the National Trust of Historic Preservation and for the past three years he has served as a member of the National Steering Committee for PastForward.
Torrez helped found Latinos in Heritage Conservation and currently serves on its Executive Board as well as the boards of the Ray Bradbury Carnegie Center and the Cliff Dwellers Club of Chicago. Always eager to lend assistance, Torrez currently serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for the National Fund for Sacred Places, a joint project of the National Trust and Partners for Sacred Places, and on Landmark Illinois’ Reinvestment Committee. His firm has worked on many projects that received National Trust support including the Muddy Waters Home, Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House, and Pullman National Historical Park.
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